Dead world, Dead end? Corrected
by Mr.Brainheart
Summary: The war is over, the Reapers are gone as is the fleet. Earth lies in ruins. Ashley and Shepard meet in the aftermath of war. Oneshot.


_A bit of context: This oneshot was made before I played ME3 or knew what the ending was, so see it as an alternate ending, but that's not really what the story is about anyway. The fleet is gone, the reapers are gone, Earth lies in ruins, Shepard and Ashley are on earth. I only made some minor corrections and changes, because some parts of the story were bothering me. Plus it's a nice way to get back into writing! (Well, hopefully.)_

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A dead world. That is where they were. A barren place where signs of life were rapidly dwindling. They were still alive. Two figures standing tall, only a few meters away from each other, yet both of them barely able to see the other through the swirling ash flowing with the wind. A slight ray of yellow light was all that kept their surroundings from falling into darkness. The rest of the sun's light blocked out by the buildings that once graced the sky. Ruins that were smashed to pieces. Two of the buildings had been smashed into each other. It looked like a makeshift bridge right above their heads.

Black armour with an iconic red line running down her one arm. The N7 logo on the chest piece. Shepard looked at the silhouette of the lady that was standing in front of her, but struggled to see more than the faint blue colour of the armour, suggesting it was someone from the Alliance.

Ashley looked back at Shepard.

"I had never thought we'd meet like this." Ashley said, her voice slightly distorted by the helmet she was wearing.

Only when hearing the voice did she recognise it was Ashley. Her eyes widened. "I'd never thought we'd meet again." Shepard replied. Her tone was harsh, bitter.

Ashley moved towards her, with every step the silhouette gained colour. She halted when she stood right in front of Shepard and noticed how the black armour was nothing but shreds, barely holding together. She took a deep breath. "I didn't believe it, but I should've trusted you Shepard."

"You still don't dare to call me by my first name?"

"I judged wrong. I judged you wrong."

"You did." Shepard sneered.

Ashley snapped, the arrogance in Shepard's voice was unbearable. "Why are you doing this to me? What the hell's wrong with you! I apologize and all you do is spit it back in my face!"

"You deserve it for judging me, for calling me the traitor and simultaneously betraying me!"

"Think of Horizon Shepard, what did you do? You didn't care for me, only for your own gain! You figured having me on your Cerberus ship would be 'fun'! You hadn't even considered my feelings, my obligations and then-then you judged me. You spread around your self-pity, even to Joker!"

"No! I saved the galaxy and now I've done it again. What did you ever do in that time? What did you actually achieve Ashley?"

"Remember the old Normandy? Who kept you on your feet when you were grounded? Whose picture stood on your desk when you were going through the Omega 4 Relay?"

Shepard stumbled, she struggled to keep standing. Was it confusion or exhaustion? "How-how do you even know that?"

Ashley grabbed her by the arm and pulled her up, but dodged the question, there was no need to get others involved in this. "I _loved_ you Shepard." she continued.

"Call me by my name Ash! Call me by my damn name!"

"It's always been about you hasn't it? Look around you, what do you see?"

"I've always fought for the galaxy, for all of us! Why is it you think you are allowed to throw such insults around, yet judge me for doing the same?"

"What do you see!"

Shepard looked around her, she looked, but didn't see. "What am I supposed to see?"

"This is it Shepard. Not much left, is there? What are the odds of survival? The fleet is gone. We'll die here."

Shepard looked around again, carefully this time. It hit her. Hard. Ashley was right and she hadn't even noticed. "But-" She fell down, crawled to a pile of rubble, her hands groping to find something to hold on to, and finally sat herself against an upstanding piece of metal. A long sigh followed. "I know." She fell silent for a moment. "I'm tired."

"So look at yourself. Why fall back in defence? Why should we even fight over anything anymore? Rid yourself of this contempt, He will appreciate it."

"He?"

"My own dad. Oh and, Y'know, the one that made this universe and stuff."

"There's no He for me, Ash. Maybe for you there is, but not for me."

"But what if there is a God for you too?"

"I believe there is a God for neither of us. What kind of God would create us? No one's that cruel."

She wanted to argue about it, but Ashley let it rest, no more arguments, instead she changed subject. "Can we agree that we were both wrong? That we've wronged each other?"

"Deep down-" She swallowed, it was obvious, she tried to do it as unnoticeable as possible, but it had only focused attention on it more. "-Deep down we both know we agree."

Ashley smiled gently. "There is something I've always wanted to tell you, something I almost said once. When we were grounded. I wanted to say, no, I want to say that you…make me feel good enough." There was a lump in her throat, a tear rolled from her eyes onto her cheek.

Shepard coughed. She was out of breath and so tired. "Sit next to me Ash. Be with me. I don't need a He, I just want to know I ended something with someone right. That's enough for me."

Ashley sat down next to her as she was asked to. "It's right, damn right, Shepard." She put an arm around her, her fingers squeezing Shepard's armour. "We're damn right…Jane."

"I guess the hell has left the cat, huh?" Jane said, whilst smiling.

"Yeah, 'hell and fury' have no place in me anymore. What about you?"

"I'm done being a Shepard." Jane said, realising how she had never understood who she truly was, how she should've known herself a little sooner and how she could've known Ashley better if she had.

The sun was going down, it was going to be a cold night on earth, the two figures questioning if they'd ever see the end of it and the beginning of dawn. The scrapers above their heads, the rubble all around them, the lack of all life, weren't pretty signs, but maybe not an all telling sight either.

"Hey, remember the days on the SR-1, kickin' some mysterious reaper ass?" Ash said.

"Yeah, they were real butthurt after that." Shepard smirked.

"Remember how we just did that again, incendentally saving the galaxy aswell?"

"Like yesterday."


End file.
